The activities of marketing and advertising are important parts of the economy. Effective marketing and advertising introduce and promote products or services that otherwise would not be known to the consuming public. The consumer would typically desire information about a product or service before the consumer would consider purchasing that product or service. Marketing and advertising provide this information to the consumer to thereby inform the consumer about the existence of the product or service and its various attributes.
Public venue advertising is ubiquitous. As a means to promote specific products and generate additional revenue, such venues often will sell space to advertisers. The advertising can be displayed in many ways, such as on billboards, on walls, on electronic displays, on printed material, and other ways. However, because of the often remote (e.g., billboards) or transient (e.g., napkins) nature of these existing types of advertisements, they may fail to adequately grab the consumer's attention, or capture the consumer's eye in a manner that would leave the desired lasting impression. Thus, there appears to be an open niche for alternative advertising methods to accommodate the valuable commercial resource of the immediate visual area directly in front of the consumer in a captive-audience venue.
Cupholders and other seating structures such as seatbacks are frequently found in public and private venues where seating is common and beverages are served. Such seating structures are generally positioned so as to be conveniently accessible to the patrons sitting in the seats provided. For example, a typical seating structure such as a cupholder may be in position in front of the patron or in front of the patron's drinking arm, so that the patron can place their drink in the cupholder when not drinking, and reach their drink easily when desired. Cupholders may be mounted or affixed to the seat backs of the row in front of a patron, so that they are readily accessible to the patron while at the same time not interfering with the comfort of others in the public venue.